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Tuesday, August 26, 2008

So I just have to say how impressed I was with Hillary Clinton's speech tonight at the Democratic convention in Denver. I've always liked and admired Hillary from way back when Bill Clinton was running for his first term. I wasn't so sure of him back then, although I ended up liking him a lot and have a lot of respect for all he accomplished on the job, but I knew I liked Hillary Clinton. And for all those people who claimed Bill was helping campaign for Hillary just to get back into the spotlight -- the look of pride and joy on his face when Hillary got onto the stage and started talking just blew those critics away.

Anyway, I know not everyone agrees with my politics, and I apologize for going into politics here. But Hillary Clinton's speech tonight made me proud I voted for her in the Oregon primary last May. I just wish I could be voting for her again in November.

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I realized today, although I guess I knew it before in some ways, that the worst part of this stupid mystery illness of mine is that it's making me miss out on so many parts of Ellie's life and development. I swear she's changing and growing right before my eyes and I feel like I'm stuck on the fringes of it all because I just don't have the energy to be right in the midst of it all. This wasn't what we planned when we decided I would be a stay-at-home mom, and I'm resentful of having to miss so many important moments in her life.

Ellie's school is closed this week while the teachers prepare for the school year to start Sept. 3. Scott took vacation time to take care of Ellie since I clearly can't, and I had initially warned him that I would probably spend most of the week camped out in our bedroom. But the thing is, I really like spending time with Ellie and with Scott, so it's harder to do that than I expected.

Scott planned out a bunch of fun things to do with Ellie this week. But most of them are things I want to be part of too. Today, he took Ellie to Oaks Park, an old-fashioned amusement park in town that has a "preschool special" twice a week during the summer for kids under 6. I took Ellie once two years ago, when she was 18 months old, and she was afraid of all the rides, even the carousel.I meant to take her back last summer, but of course that didn't happen. So I put it on their schedule for today and told a bunch of my mommy friends that I'd be there too, even if I spent most of the time sitting on benches while they did the rides. Best laid plans and all that. After three days of over doing things with Scott and Ellie, there was no way I could go to Oaks Park today.

They went without me, and Ellie was able to see many of her favorite old friends. But I missed seeing her ride her first rollercoaster, go down the giant slide on a blanket all alone, and so many other firsts. And a bunch of my mommy friends turned out, all of them asking Scott about me. I'm sure he didn't tell them that I cried at bedtime last night because I knew there was no way I was in any shape to go anywhere the next day.

And tomorrow he's going to take her to a drop-in ballet class for ages 4-6 led by someone from our local ballet troupe, Oregon Ballet Theatre, which each year puts on OBT Exposed in a park downtown. I can't believe I'm going to miss her first ballet class ...

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I think it's funny that many local bloggers have complained in the past week or so about the rain, which lasted about a week. Yes, it's unusual to have much rain in August in Portland. But it happens, you know? And I guarantee that none of those bloggers who griped about the "unseasonal weather" this month will have a bad word to say when we have "unseasonal" sunny and warm days during the winter rainy season, which also happen most years!

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A long, long time ago, I asked here for suggestions for other email software suggestions because my Eudora software is old and bloated and they have stopped updating the paid Eudora software. I strongly dislike Outlook Express, so I don't want to start using that. So what should I use?

Several people suggested I try Mozilla's Thunderbird. And since I've fallen in love with Firefox, I figured I'd start out with Thunderbird with my new laptop. (Did I mention I got a new laptop in late July? I love the freedom of it, and I don't know if I'll ever go back to a desktop again!)

Here's the deal though -- I can't figure out how to create new folders so I can have my mail filtered in various mailboxes. I desperately need to be able to sort my email, particularly since I somehow became treasurer of my MOMS Club chapter and have been shocked at how much stuff that comes up that the board needs to discuss via email between our meetings. Seriously, it's a light day if I only get a dozen or two board emails.

I've tried deciphering the help system in Thunderbird, but I just can't seem to find exactly what I need. If anyone can offer any advice, I'd appreciate it! Meanwhile, if there's another email program you swear by, let me know. I'm perfectly happy to pay for a program I like (I paid for Eudora many times because I didn't want the ads for the free version). Thanks!

2 comments:

I LOVE gmail. RE: sorting, Google pretty much sets the standard in that area... I've been using it for several years. I find it to be very intuitive, but if I need help I find it pretty easily, if not in the Help section, then in one of the discussion groups.Also very easy to search.